Great Britain’s Men’s Academy Endurance riders were in action again at the weekend’s Fleche du Sud in Luxemburg.

GB’s George Atkins, Jon Dibben, Owain Doull, Sam Harrison, Joe Kelly and Simon Yates took to the start line of the five day stage race which saw them take four top-ten finishes.

"In the first stage, Owain Doull finished fifth overall which put him in the young rider’s jersey – he has come along massively since last year"

Coach Keith Lambert

Coach Keith Lambert was impressed with the development of the young riders’ over recent months. “I thought it was encouraging the way they rode in general. It was Jon Dibben’s first proper stage race as a senior rider and I thought he rode really well.”

Summarising the race, Keith explains: “In the first stage, Owain Doull finished fifth overall which put him in the young rider’s jersey – he has come along massively since last year. In stage two, Sam made it into the winning break but was unfortunate to get dropped just before the finish line.”

“Simon Yates showed consistently good form throughout the final three stages, winning the young rider’s jersey in Stage 3 and then placing 4th and 3rd respectively on the final two stages. On the last stage, two riders were away all day with the bunch ultimately being five seconds away from catching them. Simon won the bunch sprint to finish third – it was just a shame they couldn’t catch the other two riders as I’m sure he would have beaten them in the sprint too.”

“Overall, the lads rode really well and we can go to the Ras at the weekend with confidence.”